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British Labour divided over war with Iraq

AM Archive - Wednesday, 19 March , 2003 08:24:47

Reporter: Matt Peacock

LINDA MOTTRAM: The sharp divisions in Britain over war have now brought on what's being called the most important vote in the career of the Prime Minister, Tony Blair. At Westminster, MPs have been on their feet all day to vote on a resolution over war with Iraq, and Government number crunchers are bracing themselves for a shock.

From London, Matt Peacock reports.

MATT PEACOCK: Few MPs were in any doubt of the significance of today's vote. But if they had any, Mr Blair dispelled them when he rose to his feet.

TONY BLAIR: The outcome of this issue will now determine, more than the fate Iraqi regime, more than the future of the Iraqi people for so long brutalised by Saddam Hussein, important though those issues are, it will determine the way Britain and the world confront the central security threat of the 21st Century, the development of the United Nations, the relationship between Europe and the United States, the relations within the European Union and the way that the United States engages with the rest of the world. So it could hardly be more important. It will determine the pattern of international politics for the next generation.

MATT PEACOCK: Already Mr Blair has lost his former Leader of the House and once Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook. Two more ministers and a handful of private secretaries have also resigned today, joining a rebellion in Labour ranks that's been growing by the hour.

An anti-war mood throughout Britain that's already seen its biggest ever demonstration has now put massive pressure on Labour backbenchers. As one Labour whip told me, "we might be taking a hit". That would mean not that Mr Blair will lose the vote, but that so great would be the rebellion within his own party, he might take the country to war only with the help of his political opponents, the Conservatives, hence the Prime Minister's passion.

TONY BLAIR: To retreat now, I believe, would put at hazard all that we hold dearest, turn the United Nations back into a talking shop, stifle the first steps of progress in the Middle East, leave the Iraqi people to the mercy of events on which we would have relinquished all power to influence for the better, tell our allies that at the very moment of action, at the very moment when they need our determination, that Britain faltered. I will not be party to such a course.

[to "hear, hear" from Chamber]

This is not the time to falter, this is the time for this House, not just this Government or indeed this Prime Minister, but for this House to give a lead.

[to "hear, hear" from Chamber]

To show that we will stand up for what we know to be right, to show that we will confront the tyrannies and dictatorships and terrorists who put our way of life at risk.